Bloggiesta Update 1

Well the 2nd annual Bloggiesta has been going on all weekend, hosted by Maw Books, and I have done nothing. I’ve had too much going on and spent so much time on the computer during the week I needed a break. I’m still hoping to get some things done before the end of the day but most likely it’s not going to happen.

I guess I’ll keep the list going for the next one. I hope everyone had fun. I haven’t had a chance to catch up on all the posts but I look forward to doing that soon.

2nd Annual Bloggiesta Starts Today!

The 2nd Annual Bloggiesta is starting now. Hosted by Maw Books. This 72 hour event will be a great opportunity to catch up on blog renovations and other items. Of course, I am working today so it’s hard to tell how much time I will be able to spend working on my blog.

Never fear – I will find things to do. For starters, my 2009 and December review posts have not even been started or posted. That is my first goal.

After that I will review my blog and start my list of items. I’m thinking of some of the following:

• Blogroll with favorite bloggers
• Add all social marketing links
• 2009 Review
• December Review
• Challenge Update
• Go through TBR list and those not added in
• Set reading and blogging goals for the year
• Clean up sidebars

A more detailed list to come.

2nd Annual Bloggiesta

Hosted by Natasha at Maw Books
January 8-10, 2010

Natasha at Mawbooks is once again hosting the popular Bloggiesta – an event designed to help bloggers…

…cross those nagging items off of your to-do list and improve your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing. Break out the nachos, enchiladas, drinks, mariachi music and whack a pinata or two!

Natasha describes Bloggiesta as a blogging marathon and lists some ideas of what bloggers can do over the three day event:

• Write reviews.
• Write backup posts for a rainy day.
• Write that great post idea from three months back.
• Work on series posts.
• Write guest posts.
• Put out invitations for guest posts.
• Conduct and edit author interviews.
• Create template posts for your future reads (ie: title, images, linking, tags, etc,) so you can open up, write review and post without being bogged down with technicalities
• Clean up your tags, archives, books reviewed list, etc.
• Create a text file (or Google Doc) of cheat sheets (html codes, post url’s, etc)
• Improve your blog template, clean up sidebars, add a favicon, install those plugins that you’ve been meaning to do.
• Add or edit your about me page, review policy, disclosure policy, privacy policy, create landing pages (for example – an about me for Twitter readers page) or any other pages you might have.
• Any bloggy type housekeeping that you’ve been neglecting.
• Clean up and update your challenge lists. Link up your posts with hosts.
• Make sure all of your social network profiles are up to date. Brand yourself through those profiles with color scheme, images, etc.
• Go get a gravatar.
• Visit the Blogging Tips group on the Book Blogs Ning and find ways to improve your blog.
• Work on any specialized projects that you may have going.
• Clean out and organize your feed reader and blog subscriptions.
• Create an elevator pitch.
• Make business cards.
• Find a blogging buddy.
• The sky’s the limit!

Some more information you might need:

1. The date is Friday, January 8th, Saturday the 9th and Sunday the 10th. You can really start whenever you want within that time but official hours are 8am to 8am (wherever you are). That is a total of 76 hours, of which you should aim high for a total of 18-24 hours spent on the challenge. The hours spent on the challenge do NOT need to be in a row. Use the entire 76 hour time frame and see what you can do with it. (Natasha says aim for 24 hours but really if you can only do six, twelve or eighteen that’s fine too. I just like to have something to aim for.)
2. It’s your call as to how much you want to put into it. But you have to put something into it or it’s not a challenge. So stay up all night or sleep and take care of kids when you need to.
3. When you start the challenge, go to Mawbooks and to the “starting line” post and link to your specific post about beginning the challenge which is posted on your blog.
4. How many updates (if any) you want to do is up to you. Make it work for you. There will be bloggers hosting mini-challenges as well. These are great to learn new information. To get an idea of the mini-challenges last time, check out the list.
5. If you are on Twitter, use the hashtag #bloggiesta to join the chatter.
6. Your final summary post needs to be posted no later than Monday, January 11th. Come back to the finish line and link to your specific summary post. Your summary should include the number of hours spent on the challenge, what you accomplished, links to mini-challenge hosts if you completed them and any other experiences you’d like to add.

Need more information or want to sign up? Visit the post about the event on Mawbooks.

Bloggiesta – Round Up

I haven’t had a chance until now to do my wrap up post for this weekends BLOGGIESTA! It has been a busy couple of days but I’m finally getting around it.

My biggest goal was to write some movie reviews and catch up. While I wrote 18 reviews of movies and TV shows, it was nowhere near close to what I wanted to write. I can’t imagine how many I had to write but I never realized how long it would take to write them and how bored I may get doing so.

Overall I completed:

• Movie/TV Reviews: 18
• Book Reviews: 2
• Mini-Challenges: 3 (Bookish Ruth, Book Lady, Beth Fish Reads)
• Updated challenge pages for 2 reviews
• Updated my LibraryThing reviews
• Added a currently reading and up next box to my sidebar
• Added a weekly events box to the sidebar to be updated soon
• Wrote a new post to publish another day involving a new perpetual challenge I created for myself
• Updated a key page (my TBR list) to look more alphabetized and organized
• Officially signed up for the Sookie Stackhouse Challenge, with some of my own rules
• Created a new event at my other blog – Baking 101
• Cleaned up my starred items in google reader – pretty much all that’s left are articles involving True Blood and I’m too tired to read them all
• Rejoined the Weekly Geek group – here

It feels like a lot and a little all at the same time. I’m always pretty on top of things with my book blog so it was more for fun. I think I only spent about 8 hours or so playing around with things so not nearly as much time as other people. Hopefully next time I will be more prepared.

Bloggiesta – Update #7

Lucky #7 will be my last post for the festivities. My official wrap-up post will be done tomorrow. I’m just too exhausted to complete everything and feel like had I had more time I would have accomplished more in regards to my movie reviews, but since I have that organized I will probably continue to do quick groupings and get a chunk knocked off.

That being said, I did get some more accomplished in my last hour.

• officially signed up for the Sookie Stackhouse Challenge, with some of my own rules
• created a new event at my other blog – Baking 101
• cleaned up my starred items in google reader – pretty much all that’s left are articles involving True Blood and I’m too tired to read them all
• rejoined the Weekly Geek group - here
• participated in Beth Fish Reads mini-challenge for creating a post for later publishing – that will probably be up tomorrow involving another new challenge

I think that’s all for the night. I’ll do a full roundup in the morning. Had lots of fun.